Lava Queen

Atria shopping gallery has made it into my list of Top 3 Favorite Shopping Malls recently, especially for grocery shopping (I think I'm in lurve  with that village grocer. Lol). We are there almost every other week. My hubby even won the consolation prize in their recent The Tree of Dreams Shop & Win Contest last week! Of course, other than shopping, they do have some unique restaurants/cafes that we don't see in other malls. One of them is this Baba Nyonya by Sambal Chilli . Their claim: Inspired by the rich and diverse heritage of Malaysia, Sambal Chilli serves a large selection of local cuisine in a cosy and welcoming environment. The mix of spices and herbs from the Malay cuisine combined with Chinese wok fire/claypot cooking technique. It is fusion cuisine at its best! Personally, I do quite like nyonya cuisines. Whenever I have the cravings for nyonya cuisines, I usually visit Aunty Nat Restaurant   or   Ah Tuan Ee's Place. So I thought why not try thi...

My poor baby has been eating nothing but porridge, soups and fruits for the past few days. Since she is feeling much better today, I decided to give her a little 'treat' - by baking these sweet potato rings for her. These little rings are naturally sweet and even I like them too. (Been stealing from her snackbox haha!) I didn't have a piping bag at home, so I used plastic bag. Hence, the ugly and uneven shapes :P Ingredients: 100g cooked Japanese sweet potato 8g unsalted butter 1 egg yolk 2 tbsp milk 3 tbsp potato starch Preheat oven to 150°C. Cook 1 Japanese sweet potato in boiling water for 15 mins with skin on. Weigh 100g sweet potato and mash it with butter while still hot. Sieve them through a strainer for smoother texture. Add milk, egg yolk and potato starch. Mix well. Put the mixture in a piping bag. Squeeze and pipe into ring shapes. Bake for 20-25 mins in the preheated oven. Bake them slightly longer if you like them crunchy. I prefer them ...

The past few days were all about tiredness/fatigue, and the strain is taking its toll on me. The nasty cold bug decided to pay my LO a 'visit', and on top of that, she is having on and off fever from the pneumococcus jab. Based on survey (own survey on those around me :P), caring for sick children, especially babies and toddlers, proved to be one of the biggest nightmares for every parent. I never would have guessed how much of parenting is devoted to taking care of sick children before I had one. There’s nothing you can do to plan for it, you can't mark it in your appointment books or schedule around an illness. It’s one of those things that you just have to deal with, and it doesn't matter what your profession is. If you don’t have a stay-at-home parent, you have to make allowances for it and be prepared that some of your colleagues (those without children) will be bad-mouthing your lack of productivity behind your back. “Can you believe she is taking off AGAIN? Wh...

My LO is down with a cold :(. Guess our Chinese New Year outings were a little too much for her; drastic change in temperatures (hot outdoors and air-conditioned indoors) and no proper naps... But Daddy and Mummy have suffered the consequences - sleepless nights, clinginess, non-stop crying and screaming -_-" Nothing but macaroni soup, porridge, plenty of water, fruits and snow pear soups for her the past few days. Here's one that's suitable for those who suffer from common cold: Also suitable for children with sensitive bronchus too. Ingredients: 2 snow pears 5 maces  (Approx 18.9g) white fungus 1 tael (Approx 37.5g) lily bulb 3 maces (Approx 11.3g) sweet almond  1 carrot Approx 300g lean pork Snow pear, white fungus, lily bulb and sweet almond all help to moisten lungs. Soak white fungus til soft. Rinse thoroughly and set aside. Rinse snow pears, remove stems and cores. Cut into pieces and set aside. Scald lean pork in boiling water for 5 ...

2016 - Year of the Fire Monkey It's the 7th day of Chinese New Year. Chinese call it the People's Day/man's birthday (Ren Ri), which symbolizes the birth of new life and new hope after the fight against the Nian Beast (disaster and bad luck). We stayed back and spent the new year in KL this year because my sis-in-law just gave birth not long ago and my in-laws are here helping her with the confinement. Unlike years ago when KL was always quiet with very few cars on the road at this time, this is slowly changing. More and more people (including those around me) are choosing not to go home, asking their old folks to come out instead, and even going elsewhere for holidays during this festive season. This is apparent with the significant increase in car volumes/traffic jams on the road and bustling shopping malls. So why are these people breaking away from the Chinese New Year tradition? Here are some of the reasons I've heard so far: Annoying traffic jams Imagin...

It's Chinese New Year again. We pretty much breezed through it last year since my LO was still an infant. But since she has leveled up (>1 year old),  I reckon this year will be a challenge.  At this age, adults (especially the older folks) generally think nothing of it if she’s given sweets, chocolates, cookies/biscuits/tarts made from bleached, processed flour, salt etc  during CNY. In fact, some of these people think it's OK to feed her junk food ever since she started taking solids. I'm tired of hearing people telling me,  " She's old enough to eat all these",  "She will be so deprived",  "I've seen younger kids eating junk food and fizzy drinks", "Just let her try everything so can train up her immune system", "I used to let my kid eat all these last time and they grew up fine " bla bla bla... The list goes on...   Anyway, I have already baked an awesome batch of yogurt bites for her using her favorite b...

Our last 2 days in Seoul. We stayed in Vestin Residence Myeongdong this time because of its superb location - subway station, Namsan Park and N Seoul Tower all within walking distance, and most importantly, it's virtually opposite street to the shopping central of Myeongdong (I wrote down a long list of facial products to buy!). Since we were gonna spend the last 2 days mainly on shopping, the location of this hotel was ideal - Shop, drop our loots back in the room, take a rest, walk across and continue to shop again!  That very night after we got back back from Jeju, we met up with a friend. Had a good chat over dinner and after dinner, he dropped us at N Seoul Tower. Since opening to the public in 1980, N Seoul Tower has become a much-loved Seoul landmark. Sitting atop Namsan Mountain (243m), the observatory of this tower offers panoramic views of Seoul and the surrounding areas. Being adventurous, we chose to walk and it took us about half an hour to reach the tower. Ni...